South Korea to withdraw plan to suspend licenses of striking doctors to resolve medical impasse

Seoul, South Korea — South Korea said on Monday it will withdraw its previous plan to suspend the licenses of striking doctors as part of its efforts to resolve the country’s months-long medical impasse.

It was not immediately known whether and how many of the thousands of striking doctors would return to work following the government’s announcement. Furthermore, the plan may raise criticism that it violates the principle of justice in the government’s handling of other previous labor strikes, as well as doctors who have already returned to work.

Health Minister Cho KyooHong said on Monday that the government has decided not to suspend the strikers’ leaves, regardless of whether they return to their hospitals or not.

He said the government’s decision aims to address the shortage of doctors treating serious and emergency patients and restore a training system to add more professional doctors.

More than 13,000 junior doctors, who are medical interns and residents, walked off the job in February in protest against the government’s plan to drastically increase school admissions. Their strikes significantly strained the operations of the university hospitals where they worked during their training.

A Seoul court ruled in May to support the government’s plan.

The government later withdrew its plan to suspend the licenses of doctors who returned to its hospitals, but did not do so for others who remained off work.

Officials have said they want to add up to 10,000 doctors by 2035 to address the country’s rapidly aging population and a shortage of doctors in rural areas and in essential but low-paying specialties such as pediatrics and emergency services.

Doctors say schools are not prepared to deal with an abrupt increase in students and that this would ultimately harm the country’s medical services. But critics argue that doctors, one of the highest-paying jobs in South Korea, are primarily concerned that having more doctors will reduce their income.

The striking doctors are a fraction of all doctors in South Korea, estimated to number between 115,000 and 140,000. But in some large hospitals, they represented around 30% to 40% of doctors, assisting fully qualified doctors and department heads during surgeries and other treatments during training. Their strikes have caused the cancellation of countless surgeries and other care at their hospitals and threatened to disrupt South Korea’s medical services.